Brent Goose. 4C3 



shall declare. There is a small island in Lancashire, called the 

 Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and 

 bruised ships, some whereof haue beene cast thither by ship- 

 wracke, and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches of old 

 and rotten trees, cast vp there likewise ; whereon is found a 

 certain spume or froth that in time breedeth vnto certaine shells, 

 in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper-pointed, and of a 

 whitish colour ; the other end is made fast, wherein is contained 

 a thing in forme like a lace of silke, finely wouen, as it were, 

 together, of a whitish colour, one end wherof is fastned vnto the 

 inside of the shell, even as the fish of oisters and muskles are ; 

 the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or 

 lumpe, which, in time, commeth to the shape and forme of a bird 

 When it is perfectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the 

 first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string : next 

 come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth 

 greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, til at length it is all 

 come forth, and hangeth onely by the bill. In short space after, 

 it commeth to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it 

 gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a mallard, 

 and lesser than a goose, hauing blacke legs and bill or beake, 

 and feathers blacke and white, spotted in such manner as is our 

 magpie, called in some places a Pie-Annet, which the people of 

 Lancashire call by no other name than a tree Goose, which place 

 aforesaid, and all those parts adjoyning, do so much abound 

 therewith, that one of the best is bought for threepence. For 

 the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair vnto 

 me, and I shall satisfy them by the testimonie of good witnesses. 

 Moreover it should seem that there is another sort hereof, the 

 history of which is true, and of mine own knowledge : for 

 trauelling upon the shore of our English coast, between Douer 

 and Rumney, I found the trunke of an old rotten tree, which 

 (with some help that I procured by fishermen's wiues, that were 

 there attending their husbands' returne from the sea) we drew 

 out of the water upon dry land. Vpon this rotten tree, I found 

 growing many thousands of long crimson bladders, in shape like 



